Meta

Origins, the CNS Documentary Service, this week has the texts of two documents on safe environment programs aimed at protecting children from abuse. In one, the U.S. bishops’ Safe Environment Work Group reports that 5.76 million children and young people have received safety training since the bishops mandated it in response to the church’s sexual abuse crisis. (Subscribers: click here)

But in the second, the Catholic Medical Association attacks safe environment programs as ineffective and potentially damaging to children and families. (Subscribers: click here)

The church cannot simply wait for people to find their way into it on their own, says Cardinal Avery Dulles. “The message to be believed is a story to be told. Unless people hear it, they cannot be expected to believe it. Who except us, who are within the community of faith, can tell the world about Jesus Christ?” he asks. (Subscribers: click here)

Stronger, sustained, meaningful adult relationships are key to engaging teenagers in learning faith, says Bishop Richard J. Malone, who suggests that adolescent catechetical programs can be made more intellectually engaging through the use of art, poetry, music and drama. (Subscribers: click here)